Amazon Prime Free Trial
FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button and confirm your Prime free trial.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited FREE Prime delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-39% $11.06$11.06
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
$9.99$9.99
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: 2nd Life Books
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Sonny Rollins Plays the Bridge Hardcover – Picture Book, October 19, 2021
Purchase options and add-ons
Sonny Rollins loved his saxophone. As a teenager, he was already playing with jazz stars and making a name for himself. But in 1959, at age twenty-nine, he took a break from performing—to work on being a better, not just famous, musician. Practicing in a city apartment didn’t please the neighbors, so Sonny found a surprising alternative—the Williamsburg Bridge. There, with his head in the clouds and foghorns for company, Sonny could play to his heart’s content and perfect his craft. It was a bold choice, for a bold young man and musician.
Sonny’s passion for music comes alive in jazzy text and vivid, evocative paintings of New York City. His story celebrates striving to be your very best self, an inspiration to music lovers young and old.
- Reading age4 - 8 years
- Print length32 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade levelPreschool - 3
- Lexile measureNP
- Dimensions10.88 x 0.35 x 9.31 inches
- PublisherNancy Paulsen Books
- Publication dateOctober 19, 2021
- ISBN-101984813668
- ISBN-13978-1984813664
Customers who bought this item also bought
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Review
★ “The harmony represented on the page...is also reflected in the harmony between the poetic text and the artistic images: Both show an African American man who finds peace on his own terms, in his own space, doing what he is meant to do...Ransome’s illustrations convey character, mood and setting to great effect, matching the spare, effective text with energy and vibrancy that tempt readers to seek out Rollins’ sound. This meditation on music, art, and integrity offers inspiration and food for thought. This loving tribute is a generous introduction to a figure worth knowing.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “In an evocative snapshot of a moment in a musician’s life, Golio celebrates Black saxophonist Sonny Rollins’s (b. 1930) private escape to a public place. . . . Ransome creates vivid watercolor and collage spreads. . . . Ransome doesn’t stint on background scenery; he paints the structure, the buildings below it, and even the traffic along the river with reverence. Up on the bridge, golden bubbles of effervescent sound burst from the bell of Rollins’s instrument as he plays to his heart’s content . . . against the rhythm of trains 'clanking clanging' and 'tugboats/ blowing bass notes.' The creators’ deliberate lines and detailed visuals sing like music themselves as they pay homage to an artist who finds a way to ring out loud and clear.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ "Poetic book...Rich, figurative language. This book would be a terrific support to studying poetry with students…The lush watercolor illustrations are highly detailed and support the text wonderfully...Positive representations of Black artists are always welcome additions to library collections, and this work stands out as a biography in verse. Recommended for elementary collections, especially for poetry, biography, and music units.” —School Library Journal, starred review
"Golio is known for his picture-book biographies about musicians, and here his precise and expressive free verse is well paired with Ransome’s evocative art. In beautiful watercolor and collage he splendidly captures both the vibrant spirit of the city and the luminous persona of the jazzman. Back matter includes information about Rollins’s career and the Williamsburg Bridge as well as some of Rollins’s own words." —Horn Book
About the Author
James Ransome is the illustrator of many award-winning picture books, including The Creation (by James Weldon Johnson), which won a Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration, and Let My People Go (by Patricia McKissack), winner of an NAACP Image Award. His other books include This Is the Rope (by Jacqueline Woodson), Young Pele (by Lesa Cline-Ransome), and Sky Boys (by Deborah Hopkinson). He lives in upstate New York with his wife, author Lesa Cline-Ransome, and their family.
Product details
- Publisher : Nancy Paulsen Books (October 19, 2021)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 32 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1984813668
- ISBN-13 : 978-1984813664
- Reading age : 4 - 8 years
- Lexile measure : NP
- Grade level : Preschool - 3
- Item Weight : 14.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 10.88 x 0.35 x 9.31 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #228,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7 in Children's Jazz Music
- #112 in Children's Musical Biographies (Books)
- #411 in Children's Multicultural Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
A visual artist, musician, and psychotherapist, Gary Golio is the author of the New York Times- bestselling JIMI: Sounds Like A Rainbow – A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix, recipient of a 2011 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. His other books include When Bob Met Woody: The Story of the Young Bob Dylan; Spirit Seeker: The Musical Journey of John Coltrane; Bird & Diz - Two Friends Create Bebop; Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song; Carlos Santana - Sound of the Heart, Song of the World; SMILE - How Young Charlie Chaplin Taught the World to Laugh (and Cry); Dark Was the Night - Blind Willie Johnson's Journey to the Stars; and Sonny Rollins Plays the Bridge. His forthcoming books include Everywhere Beauty is Harlem – The Vision of Photographer Roy DeCarava (2023), The Soldier's Friend - Walt Whitman's Extraordinary Service in the American Civil War (Calkins Creek/Astra, 2024), William Carney Carries the Flag - The Remarkable Story of America's First Black Medal of Honor Winner (Calkins Creek/Astra, 2025), and Silence Sounds Simple - A Day in the Life of John Cage (Calkins Creek/Astra, TBD).
Each of these books highlights an artist’s roots and influences, promoting the idea that artists are models of persistence and commitment, embodying values of imagination, hopefulness, and self-acceptance.
Customer reviews
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star5 star100%0%0%0%0%100%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star4 star100%0%0%0%0%0%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star3 star100%0%0%0%0%0%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star2 star100%0%0%0%0%0%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star1 star100%0%0%0%0%0%
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2021Great for kids with an interest in music.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2022Awesome and inspiring story about a jazz musician who doesn’t allow the world around him to distract him and follows the small still voice within. Children book with a great message for adults as well.